When I pitched it, I gave them a six-year plan with a lot of leeway for change. But what I really mapped out was the first 13, and even though we start in a different place than I had originally intended, we end up exactly where I'd intended in the 12th episode. Then, in the 13th episode, things just get stranger. There's some twisted sh-- coming.

Can you give us an idea of what to expect from the second half of the season?

The second half of the season, especially starting with episode six, "Man on the Street," just kicks the entire franchise up a huge notch. It's where we start to pay off on everything we've been setting up for five episodes in terms of the relationships and the progression that Echo's going through. And then I just start twisting the knife and I don't stop. Hopefully it's still accessible to people; we're still doing standalones and every episode has its own resolution, so it's not just a rabbit's hole. The first half was definitely, "This is the world and here's how it works." And then the second half just takes that up to an intense level and then we really start to mess with the audience.

Stick around for some creepy and unprofessional comments about his coworker Eliza Dushku.